Underground architecture: wells and wells makers of Buenos Aires in the XVIII and XIX centuries

Abstract

During the archaeological survey and rescue work carried out at Moreno 550 site on Buenos Aires city, architectural remains belonging to a sequence of buildings constructed between the late 18th and early 20th centuries were identified in stratigraphy. These remains included sections of foundations of various characteristics and in very poor condition and numerous buried structures -wells and cisterns- that, on the contrary, retained their original characteristics almost intact. A comparative analysis of its features allowed establishing that these were the result of two different constructive practices, one of colonial origin that extended until the mid-nineteenth century and another of more modern features that characterized the second half of that century. The objective of the present work was to begin to investigate the context in which the oldest structures were built, the conditions in which the sinkers that executed them worked and try to reflect on the role played by slave labor in the development of the most basic component of the city's architecture, water wells and waste disposal.